Real Talk Friday - Who is Gus and Rohan??

Welcome to Real Talk Friday with your hosts Rohan Das and Gus Urban.

In this groundbreaking podcast segment, we delve deep into the lives of individuals whose

journey has been profoundly transformed by their faith.

From the trial of adversity to the triumph of redemption, we explore real stories, real

people whose encounter with God has reshaped their existence.

Join us as we embark on a candid and enlightening journey where authenticity meets spirituality

every Friday on Real Talk Friday, part of Logan City Christian Church.

Hello and welcome to Real Talk Friday.

Finally, Gus.

Finally, this is our first episode that we've been planning for a long time and I'm so excited.

Yeah, no, we're here.

Like you said, a lot of planning, a lot of discussing and dreaming as well.

Oh, for sure.

We're here.

So welcome everyone.

It's great to have you join us.

It's going to be a fantastic time.

Looking forward to it.

Ah, amazing.

You know, I thought of the first episode and I thought we should get a speaker.

But then again, I thought our listeners would also like to know us.

Yeah, that's right.

So let's spend some time telling our listeners who we are, because they might hear us and

not know who exactly we are.

Our journey with Christ, our journey throughout our life that has brought us to this stage

that we are recording this podcast.

So let's just talk about ourselves and let's just dive deep into it because we don't want

to be talking for a long time.

No, that's right.

Just have a very short podcast, but also very relevant podcast.

Yeah, no, that's right.

I think just keeping it real is what we do through Real Talk Friday.

Well said, Gus.

So let's keep it real.

Well said.

So let's start with you, Gus.

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do with the Logan City Christian Church.

To pretend I don't know you, of course I know you, but just pretend you don't know me.

For sure.

Yeah, well, I'm full-time associate pastor at Logan City Christian Church.

My parents are senior pastors.

I've been ministering in this church since 13 years of age.

I've been a priest up on stage on a drum kit and have been serving God ever since.

So yeah, we work as a great team, myself, my parents.

Yeah, and it's just really, really good.

That's amazing.

I also grew up in a very church environment, if you say so.

My parents are also in ministry, but I grew up in Kenya, not in Australia.

So it's a bit of a different journey there.

Oh, for sure.

But I think we are all one in Christ and we have the same Christian culture, which is

what kind of helps us grow in Christ and helps us.

We might see different cultures, but when I look at Christians, no matter where I go

in this world, I always see the same culture.

Well, that's right.

And it's funny because you are actually of Indian descent, growing up in Kenya.

And I'm Aussie.

I was born in Beaudesert, a little country town.

Not far away from here.

No, not too far.

I grew up in a real, what would you say, a real country feel sort of thing.

I love the bush.

I love going out west.

And so we are two totally different people.

Yeah.

We are brothers, we get along, we do a podcast together.

It's just God.

It is God.

A little bit about myself.

Of course, as you said, I'm of Indian descent, born in India.

My parents, well, my mum at that point was working for the Assemblies of God in Kolkata,

which is also known as Calcutta.

But after independence, they changed it to Kolkata, which is, I'm not a fan of that word.

I preferred Calcutta.

We got some history for our viewers there.

Yeah, yeah, just a little bit of a history.

So I grew up there and then we moved to Kenya, moved to Mombasa first, which is a coastal

town in Kenya on the eastern coast.

Beautiful time there on the beach.

I don't know that I believe Kenya also has beautiful beaches there.

Parts of Diani, which is on the northern, I think it's north of Mombasa, a place called

Diani.

It's on the beach and also Mombasa.

So growing up there, it was different.

I face a lot of identity issues because, as you may know, I'm an Indian living in Kenya.

And then I didn't know what to call myself because I never knew the culture that was

in India.

I never grew up in that kind of cultural environment.

At the same time, I grew up more in a very Kenyan culture.

But yet I felt that I was a bit excluded because I didn't fit in.

But you see, it took me a while to realise that I have an identity in Christ, which helped

me so much.

But yes, growing up in Mombasa and then we moved to Nairobi.

At that point, we used to call the church Nairobi Pentecostal Church, which now changed

to Setham.

It's the church my parents actually work with.

And it's amazing that journey of how the church started off with a tent, and now it's a huge

building.

Yeah, that's incredible.

It's God.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

But growing up, I've had encounters where I didn't really want to be part of that Christian

environment because I felt that was not cool.

And like any other teenage boy, you want to party and you want to be accepted by other

friends, which is always the case.

But I remember there was a mission trip that I went to through the church.

And that was a very, I think that changed my perspective a lot.

But in this mission trip, we went to a county called Muranga County, which is just north

of Nairobi, I believe.

And in Muranga County, in this village, it's amazing how people live.

They're not far away from the city, but yet they have this very rural kind of lifestyle,

or village lifestyle, I would say.

Like tribal looking type of, is it?

It's just like, let's put it this way, it'd go like they're living 20 years in the past.

Yeah, wow.

Yeah.

But yet, like it's not far away from the city.

It would take me one hour to get there.

Yeah, okay.

So when I went to this village, we had a crusade.

And I went with a couple of youth from our church and young adults and some pastors.

And we said we're going to have like a crusade, Billy Graham crusade.

And when I went there, one, a part of, because there's three villages at that point.

So we were in the main Muranga village, the Muranga County village.

I can't remember what the village was called, but there were three neighboring villages.

So we had to go basically to this one of these villages and kind of call people and say,

we're going to have a crusade, we're going to have food, because of course, food is a

great incentive.

It gets everybody.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure.

Even in Kenya, it's of course, because of a lot of poverty and lack of food sometimes

in families that they do one, they love when it's a free meal.

Who doesn't?

Well, that's right.

We all do.

So.

But we went to different villages to call people to come to this crusade, which was

held on a Sunday.

So we were doing it on a Saturday.

My friend and I, we went to one of the neighboring village.

And while walking, Kenya is known for the soil, which is pretty muddy.

And that cracked my shoe because I was told to take boots, but I ignored that.

So I started wearing like a joggers or something.

Yeah, okay.

And cracked the joggers.

So I went to this town and I was trying to look for someone who could repair the shoe.

So there was only one shop there.

And when I went to the shop, there was this guy, his name was Kamau.

And I still remember him because he was the only one who actually knew English, but not

that well, but he knew English.

And I asked him, like, how do you know good English?

He told me Jackie Chan.

I was like, I'm pretty sure he doesn't speak English, but I reckon he meant like Hollywood.

Yeah.

And he used to watch a lot of movie.

I could see a TV screen there.

So he was just repairing my shoe.

And for some reason, I thought maybe I should share with him this crusade we are having.

So I asked him, Kamau, do you know Jesus?

He's like, I have heard of that man.

Yeah.

But I'm not great with my accent.

But he did say something like that.

Yeah.

And I said, well, if you want to come tomorrow, there's a beautiful crusade that we have set

up, which has meal and you get to hear about Jesus and everything.

And he's given his life for you.

So he's like, oh, that man has given my life.

Who is this man?

Sounds very important.

Yeah.

He actually was very inquisitive about it.

Yeah.

So I gave him like a leaflet or a flyer that had some information.

And we had like a Kikuyu Bible, which is like the tribal language Bible.

Oh, wow.

So he gave it to him, this New Testament one, gave it to him.

Yeah.

And he said, okay, I will come.

So the next day, I was not expecting him, of course.

I thought he's not going to show up, but he did.

Yeah, cool.

And I have this picture with me that I always keep on my phone, which I'll definitely show

whoever's listening and want to see this.

He wore a suit and a tie and pants, but he had no shoes.

He had like the really weirdest and the oldest shoe he could, and considering he repairs

shoes, I thought he would have good shoes.

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

So I went up to him and said, come on, welcome.

You're here.

And he said, yes, I have come.

And I said, wow, look at you, you're well dressed, better dressed than me, because I

was just wearing like shorts or something at that point.

And he said, yes.

You know what I did, Mr. Rohan?

I had some savings.

I was trying to buy a bicycle, but I thought this man who has given my life, given his

life for me, he deserves a lot more.

So he actually went that day.

He took his savings that he was saving up to buy a bicycle.

He went and bought a suit.

That's crazy.

And he didn't have any more money to buy a good shoe for himself.

So he just used the shoe that he already had.

And all of his life savings into a suit to meet Jesus.

That's just incredible.

It is incredible.

And you know, the scripture that comes into my mind is when, you know, there's treasures,

when you have treasures in heaven, it's a parable.

And you give everything you have to get that treasure.

That's right.

And that is what I learned from Kamau.

And that was this, I at the moment, fast forwarding, he's doing really well.

He has two bicycles.

He's happy.

Yeah, wow.

And he was trying to buy one.

And I think a lot of people in our church donated to it, you know, giving him a bicycle,

giving him a proper house.

And, you know, he has a family now.

Awesome.

But it's just his dedication to the Word of God.

Even not knowing about it, he still gave whatever he had to come to Christ.

That was a point that I actually questioned in my life.

Wow.

So you reaching out to him, like you've got something to give, to offer this man.

His life actually brings question on your own faith.

Yeah.

Where isn't that funny how God works?

It's amazing how God works.

And you know, even through this trip, this mission trip, it might have been for a few

days, but it really has helped me because I saw a lot of generosity within the people

in that village.

They don't give money.

They only give things like fruits, vegetables, their crops that they've harvested for the

week.

And, you know, I was sitting then when, you know, the altar call was coming, people were

giving, you know, gifts, and they gave fruit.

So I asked the pastor, like, why are they giving food and corn and oil?

And he said, this is a form of tide that they give us because they can't afford money.

But when I saw the amount that they give is way more, they said they give almost 50 to

60% of what they have.

And I questioned myself sometimes.

And I questioned, would I be ever that generous?

And I don't think so.

I'm sorry.

Like, I, in all honesty, I'm not as generous as them.

No, well, I don't give 50, 60%.

I can guarantee you that.

And I consider myself to be very honoring and generous with finances and tithes to God

and offerings and missions and all that.

But it's nowhere near that.

I can guarantee you.

It was an eye opener.

And I'm very happy that God actually put me in that place during that season of my life

where I actually saw these things revealed to me.

I was very emotional.

I can be very emotional at some point.

But that helped me.

And I, you know, our listeners, I would really suggest them to go to places like this that

they can actually see how people give all they have to God.

Like, Kamau, for an example, he gave all the money he saved up for a bike.

It could be us saving up for a house or something.

Imagine giving it all just to come to that crusade dressed up well because he knows the

importance of God.

He knows the importance of Jesus giving his life for us.

Yeah, no, that's right.

And that is amazing.

And that is like a turning point in my life in Kenya where I was like, wow, I want to

be in ministry.

I want to do that.

I guess on the other hand, it's sort of like you and I both grew up in church.

My family started going to church when I was six, so very, very young.

So we both know church from a very young age.

And I guess what we can experience is what's the word, where we just get used to church

and used to God and used to sermons and we get used to praise and worship where we can

treat it lightly and really lose the depth of Christ and what he's done for us.

I think God and his grace really allows us to go through these experiences where we can

truly understand and I guess refresh in a way all the good things God has done.

It's like a reality check.

There we go, a reality check.

That's it.

Yeah.

So that was my journey in Kenya and then of course I came to Australia, but before Australia

I went to do my studies.

I studied in the British school.

Of course, made kept on doing the worst decisions I could that did not please God.

It's definitely a journey.

I wouldn't say, oh, I was transformed into this new being.

It did take some time.

It did take some time for me to get baptized and reborn in Christ, but when I did, it's

a decision that I will always kind of keep deep into my heart because that was the best

decision I've ever made.

God has worked through me.

At the moment I work in a medical field now, a lot of clinical research and also I'm doing

Bible school, which is amazing because I'm working with Logan City Christian Church at

the moment in a lot of aspect of media, which is why we started this podcast.

Which is why we're here and what we're doing right now.

It's amazing how God's been working on that.

But yeah, that's a little bit about myself.

There's a lot more.

There might be one episode where I talk a lot more about me, my life and go deep into

my life, but I will keep that short for now because this is just an introduction.

There's so much more.

Oh, we could talk for days really, like even the times when you and I meet up at McDonald's

or whatever and we can be there all day, but listeners, we won't keep you here all day.

So yes, for sure.

I think it's very important that we keep this brief and very relevant and that's what

we want this podcast to be.

Exactly.

Very relevant.

Exactly.

Right.

So Gus, coming to you, do you have any kind of journeys that brought you closer to Christ?

Something like the Kamau in my story, do you have something like that that has ever brought

you closer to Christ?

Yeah, like what you said, we can have incredible experiences, but it's still an ongoing journey.

It doesn't just start from one incredible experience and the rest of your life is heaven

on earth.

I understand, yeah.

It's a real journey.

Like I said, our family started going to church when I was six years old.

My mum was a believer, my dad wasn't, and God did an incredible work in the lives of

both my parents.

They became pastors.

And so I've grown up in church, as I've already said, but I remember when I was 13 years of

age, I got born again at home.

I wasn't at any youth ministry.

I wasn't at a church service or anything like that.

I was actually home with a friend.

And I remember there was this Christian movie and I felt that I needed to watch this Christian

movie.

And when you've got a friend over and you've got a PlayStation up in your room, you know

it's God that's calling you to watch a Christian movie.

So...

PlayStation's tempting you definitely.

Well, that's right.

That's exactly right.

But in my heart, I knew I had to watch this movie.

I watched this movie about the rapture of the church and the Holy Spirit moved so powerfully

on me where it was such a miracle, an absolute transformation where God touched my life in

such a real way.

He opened my eyes.

I could see spiritually myself being dark and then being made clean by the blood of

Jesus.

I saw that come over my body.

It was incredible.

Yet later on through high school, you sort of fall away and get led away and distracted

and all these things.

But by the age of 17, I was working full time.

And yeah, it was just that stirring where I was committed to God.

And like I said, it's not committed and perfect and done everything right since.

It's just taking that journey seriously.

And it's yeah, making mistakes along the way, but I'm following God.

Amen, amen to that.

So that's basically where it's...

And now I'm in the ministry full time and it's such a blessing and everything that I

have, I try and pass on to the kids and youth on Friday nights.

Amazing.

Yeah.

I've seen amazing work being done by Logan City Christian Church.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's when I first came, it came during a New Year's Eve service.

And I had no idea how you guys are affiliated with Kenya.

And it's so heartwarming.

And I feel God's actually put me in the right place right now.

Yeah.

And he's definitely orchestrated certain events to happen and definitely put me on that day

during a Christmas Eve of 2023 going to 2024.

New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve.

Sorry, New Year's Eve.

So not Christmas Eve.

But he did put me in that situation and he put me right here in this place.

And that's for a reason.

Yeah, for sure.

And I see great things being done by this church.

Pastor Rob, amazing man.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I love what they do, your mom and dad for this church.

It's truly amazing.

And also with the aid program that they're having in Kenya, which is the United World

Ministries.

Yeah.

Such a big outreach there.

Such amazing work.

And I also thank the congregation because without their support on this, nothing would

have happened.

Exactly right.

Yeah.

So definitely our listeners here, they're supporting so much of this program.

And you know, God's opening so many doors.

And I'd encourage them to continue to support us in this.

Yeah, for sure.

Because we see God taking us to so many places.

Not even in Kenya, but many parts of Africa, many parts of the world.

Yeah.

And I think God's really doing something.

Well that's right.

I mean, like, we spend a lot of time in Kenya, but we're in quite a lot of other countries

in Africa as well.

So yeah, in India and other places around the world.

And we're sort of just really starting to get off the ground with this.

And so there's so much potential there in United World Ministries.

And yeah, just with running the church, running United World Ministries, which my parents

have been doing for quite a few years now.

Yeah, I'm just glad to be part of it.

And serving God and serving them as well.

And God's brought you along.

And there's many other people that God's bringing in.

And it's just a very exciting time.

Yeah, yeah.

Amen to that.

God's working in so many mysterious ways.

Yeah, mysterious ways for sure.

But good ways.

Yes.

But yeah, thank you for sharing.

And I really love this podcast that we can actually share a lot of things in a safe environment

and have our listeners praying for us.

Yeah, for sure.

And we would encourage our listeners praying for this podcast and also to share this podcast

with family and friends because it's important that we reach out to the ends of the world.

That's right.

Because we want Jesus to come.

That's right.

It's easy to do that with the internet.

Exactly.

That's why we're here.

But first of all, thank you for sharing.

And appreciate what you do here, your parents too.

Thank you.

And also for all the people that support Logan City Christian Church and the United World

Ministries.

We want to thank them for what they do.

And yeah, so we'll keep this podcast short and we will end it right here.

But thank you again, everyone.

Please subscribe to our channel on YouTube because we'll also be posting a podcast there.

And also keep following our socials.

We'll give some more information on who our guest speaker is going to be.

That's right.

And what we're going to do with this podcast.

So stay tuned, guys.

Thank you for joining us.

We're going to pray for all of you guys that the listening that you may be blessed with

this.

Thank you.

Amen.

As we conclude our episode of Real Talk Friday, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our

listeners for joining us on this enlightening journey.

But our journey doesn't end here.

Join us every Friday as we continue to uncover the real stories of real people where authenticity

intersects with spirituality in profound ways.

Together we'll navigate the complexities of life, finding inspiration and hope in the

remarkable narratives shared within the walls of Logan City Christian Church.

Thank you for tuning in.

And until next time, may your faith journey be filled with grace, understanding and the

unwavering presence of God.

Stay tuned for more Real Talk every Friday on Real Talk Friday.